Springfield Daily Citizen sports columnist Lyndal Scranton
Missouri State walked off Plaster Stadium’s playing surface a cold, water-logged and disappointed bunch of Bears following a loss to Louisiana Tech in the regular season finale on Saturday. If that had been the final chapter, it still would have been a memorable ride.
Just six hours later, the disappointment was all but forgotten as Missouri State officially learned that it would be invited to a bowl game to cap its first season in the Football Bowl Subdivision. A terrific season suddenly became tremendous.
Ozarks sports icons weigh in
With daughter Kathleen Hains alongside, Art Hains prepares to call a Missouri State football game at Plaster Stadium in 2024. (Photo by Missouri State Athletics)
I’m not sure there’s been a more remarkable story in local sports memory, much less Missouri State football history. If you don’t want to take my word for it, a couple of local sports media icons weighed in on the subject.
“It has to be,” said Art Hains, the voice of Missouri State athletics for more than 40 years until his retirement after the season’s home football opener. Hains added that he will “stick with 1989” for the best season, but agreed this one is a bigger overall story.
Ned Reynolds, who’s been a prominent television and radio sports figure for nearly six decades, agreed that seven wins and a bowl-game invitation put the season atop all others involving Missouri State football. He pointed out that a pair of Bears teams in the 1960s played in the Water Mineral Bowl, held near Kansas City, pairing small-college teams that had elite seasons.
“This one will be infinitely more significant than those,” Reynolds said, before adding an unprompted prediction of the team’s bowl destination.
“The First Responders Bowl in Dallas, the day after Christmas,” Reynolds said.
Hiring Petrino, Beard started the turnaround
Missouri State head coach Ryan Beard patrols the sideline against SMU at Plaster Stadium on September 13, 2025. (Photo by Bruce Stidham)
No matter the location or the outcome of the bowl game, the season has been one to remember for a program that hasn’t often offered much worth remembering. Going back to the late 1980s, I’ve seen plenty of bad-to-mediocre Missouri State football to know what remarkable looks like. This season has been flat-out stunning, in a positive way, considering where the program has come in a relatively short time.
Just six years ago, Bears football was a laughingstock in the Football Championship Subdivision. The team was 1-10, outscored by opponents 397-170. Its lone victory came in triple overtime at one-win Western Illinois. There appeared little hope for the future.
Then Bobby Petrino was hired as head coach, with Ryan Beard coming along as defensive coordinator. Shortly after setting foot on campus in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began. The two probably wondered what the hell they had gotten themselves into.
Beard reflected upon that before the 2025 season in a Springfield Daily Citizen column of mine. He matter-of-factly called it “a very desperate situation” with players, much less students and fans, not even wearing team gear around campus.
Somehow, Petrino and his staff cobbled together a decent roster in a weird wrap-around 2020 fall/2021 spring season. After going 0-3 in the Covid-restricted nonconference portion, the Bears went 5-1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference spring schedule. It earned the first league title and FCS playoff bid in 30 years.
From FCS laughingstock to FBS bowl team
Missouri State quarterback Jacob Clark looks for an open receiver against USC at the Coliseum in Los Angeles on August 30, 2025. (Photo by Bruce Stidham)
The Bears followed up with an 8-4 season in 2021 and another playoff berth. The records fell off to 5-6 in Petrino’s final season in 2022, and the Bears were 4-7 in Beard’s debut as head coach in 2023, but enough of a foundation had been laid to set in motion the move to FBS and Conference USA.
Missouri State’s facilities and resources remain laps behind many others in CUSA, but Beard has been masterful in establishing an underdog’s mentality. The Bears have played with a collective chip on their shoulder, never publicly complaining about what they don’t have but instead focusing on best using what is available. Recruiting has been strong, maintaining a base that arrived during the initial success and supplementing with transfers.
Quarterback Jacob Clark’s loyalty to the program cannot be overstated. The best at the position in school history, Clark could have taken bigger NIL money from a Power 4 school, but chose to stay in Springfield for his final season.
“I wanted to be a leader in this transition, be a part of something bigger than myself,” Clark said after the Louisiana Tech game, on his loyalty to Missouri State and Beard. “I’m excited to come back in 10 years and see where this program is at.”
Escaping the depths of ‘football hell’
Missouri State wide receiver Tristian Gardner walks into the end zone for a touchdown on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Springfield. (Photo by Ellie Frysztak)
After an 8-4 record in 2024, the season ended without a chance to participate in the FCS playoffs because the school was transitioning to FBS. This year, it appeared that Missouri State’s season would end with the regular season, as first-year FBS programs aren’t allowed into bowls — unless not enough teams qualify.
After five-win teams like Auburn and Florida State lost on Saturday, the Bears’ bowl ticket was punched. The location, date and opponent won’t officially be announced until Dec. 7, but those things don’t really matter in the big picture.
“This program has come a long way, from the depths of football hell (in) six years since we got here to people taking pride in this organization,” Beard said following Saturday’s game.
“There are teams that have perennially been superstar programs that are going home during bowl season, because they didn’t win enough games to go to a bowl,” Beard added. “How refreshing is that for the community. How big a sign is that for our supporters and fans and donors to go ‘We can do this right here at Missouri State.’ It can be done.”
Ranking MSU’s top football seasons
2025 — Missouri State goes 7-5 in the regular season and earns a bowl bid in its first Football Bowl Subdivision season. Six of the wins were over FBS opponents after only one FBS victory all-time prior to 2025.
1989 — Led by coach Jesse Branch and quarterback DeAndre Smith, the Bears earned their first FCS playoff berth and lone playoff win (over Maine) with a 10-3 record.
1990 — The Bears earn a second straight playoff spot and league title after going 9-3. A first-round playoff loss to Idaho (with Bobby Petrino a Vandals’ assistant) ends the season.
2021 — Missouri State goes 8-4 overall and 6-2 in league play, returning to the FCS playoffs for a second straight season under head coach Bobby Petrino.
1963 — After winning all nine regular-season games en route to an MIAA title, the Bears were selected for the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. They lost to Northern Illinois 21-14.
1940 — Missouri State posted a 10-0 season under coach Howard Blair, outscoring the opposition by a combined 279-20.
Lyndal Scranton is a Springfield native who has covered sports in the Ozarks for more than 35 years, witnessing nearly every big sports moment in the region during the last 50 years. The Missouri Sports Hall of Famer, Springfield Area Sports Hall of Famer and live-fire cooking enthusiast also serves as PR Director for Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri and is co-host of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast. Contact him at Lscranton755@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LyndalScranton. More by Lyndal Scranton